Different Kind of Love Story
by yoonsu
Summary: An unusual romance for unusual people. If they don't kill each other first.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, new story, hope you enjoy. This time it's going to be a little different take on things, I mean seriously different. First thing that should be known is that I love crack romance, though in this case it may be more of a psuedo-romance. Check it out, tell me if there's any hope for it. And I'll give fair warning, this chapter is not that bad, but the next couple are not going to be as kosher. This story is going to have some pretty gorey mess later one, so I would say it's not for the squeemish, with this in mind the rating may change later on. But for now, it's not that bad. Just a warning ahead of time.**

**Disclaimer: D. Grayman is not mine and never will be. **

If she was shocked at finding him there she didn't show it. In fact anyone that knew her would've been a little worried at seeing the pensive look on her face. Not that she was stupid or didn't like to think or anything along those lines. It was just that she was quite forward with what she thinking, and for the most part a smile could always be found on her face unless she didn't get what she wanted- in which case there would be a pout or frown- be it manic or pleased there was always a smile.

There was no smile this time.

Instead malicious anger passed through her eyes and an uncommon grimace contorted her lips. And with a strength a girl her size should not have had, she viciously kicked the man in his side, pleased with herself when she heard bones crack at impact.

"That was for Skinn." She whispered to herself as she slowly walked towards the fallen body again. Using the same foot she nudged his head slightly, toeing it upwards as to see his face. "Huh, you're prettier than that exorcist girlie I caught before. She wasn't a very good doll though."

A manic grin suddenly spread across her face, "Maybe you'll make an even better doll!" With that declaration she seized the man by the hair roughly and with a brutal tug whipped his body around as though he really were nothing but a little rag doll, she then passed through a glowing door, dragging the body behind her.

--

"Can I keep him?"

Tyki blinked slowly down at her, then his gaze drifted towards the man she was holding behind her, wincing slightly as he saw the tight hold she had on his hair. Really, Tyki could sympathize with the man, seeing as he himself had to serve as a plaything for Rhode more than once, she was brutal when doing his hair, so he could only imagine the kind of pain the man would be in as soon as he regained consciousness. Then slowly, cautiously he responded, "Why…are you asking me? You should go to the Earl if you really want to keep him."

And then it hit him.

"Rhode, dear, if you want to show off your new toy by all means do so. Just…find someone who would be more interested next time okay?"

With that said she began to pout, "You mean…you're not interested in my new dolly?" She dragged the man up by his hair raising his head up to about the height of her waist, and once again Tyki winced.

"Of course I'm interested, I just think that Sheryll would be much more enthusiastic about it. And I'm sure if you found the twin brats they would even be willing to play with you."

Rhode then let go of the man's hair and he dropped to the floor with a painful thud and she crept closer to Tyki, straddling his lap and lacing her arms around his neck. Then, in the whiniest voice she could manage, "But, Tyyyki, I want to share with you, not those brats. They don't deserve anything half as pretty."

Once more he glanced towards the exorcist lying on the ground, she was right, he _was_ pretty, almost too pretty to be a guy really. And yet there was that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him he knew that man on the ground. At least vaguely, enough to know his name he was sure. He wracked his mind to see if he could get any results...

Kanda.

The man's name was Kanda.

Okay, so he knew the name but where did he know it from? Well, he couldn't really be bothered, it was more than likely Allen mentioned him before…

A warm breath tickled his ear, and in a way that suggested she was telling a secret, Rhode whispered, "He killed Skinn Bolic you know." And with that said, Tyki suddenly didn't feel very sympathetic towards him anymore, in fact, whatever Rhode did to him, the exorcist probably deserved it anyways.

And then he realized where he knew the name, Skinn had mentioned him before, this Kanda was one of those exorcist brats that were under General Tiedoll. If that was the case this situation was more of 'an eye for an eye' thing than anything else, but that still didn't make Skinn's death okay, not to him, and not to the rest of the Noah family.

With the happiest smile he could muster he said, "Well Rhode, I hope you have a lot of fun with this one." The smile suddenly grew a whole lot crueler, enough to even match Rhode's. "I'm pretty sure I wouldn't mind sharing this doll with you. Just tell me when you want to play around okay?"

"Sure thing Tyki!" She then hopped off Tyki's lap and proceeded to drag the man once again by the hair, taking him into her room, her domain. As soon as Rhode was out of sight and out of sound he gave a long hearty sigh. Somehow, he felt as though none of this would end well. Not for the exorcist-naturally-and not for Rhode, and it was the latter part that disturbed him.

Mostly because he didn't know why he felt this way, he knew he shouldn't, Rhode was after all one of the strongest Noah, if not _the_ strongest. After all, who would mess with a person who could bend space and time to their will? Nobody, that's who, nobody.

So why was he so worried?

He gave another sigh, and tried to brush the feeling off, besides, it'd been way to long since he'd actually had _real_ feelings and not these instinctual imitations, he was probably mixing emotions up again or something ridiculous like that. After all, the only thing he couldn't misinterpret was pleasure.

Maybe he was mixing up 'worried' with 'restless', he was probably just bored…again.

He finally shut his book and put it on the small table next to him and headed out to find the Earl. If he wanted something to do he would take his chances and hope the Earl gave him something of at least some interest.

--

Rhode slammed the man in a high backed gothic looking seat, and then arranged his arms and legs just _so_, and took a step back to look at the man. First she cocked her head to the side with a look of uttermost concentration, and then she gave out a childish, high-pitched squeal and clapped her hands together.

"I know, just what to dress you up in! It's a good thing we visited Edo when we did, I grabbed the most beautiful dresses and bows! Nothing with lace though, even if you are that pretty, lace would do you absolutely no good."

She then slowly walked up to him, and gently caressed his face, brushing away strands of ink black hair, as though she really cared for her new toy.

"No bruises," she murmured, her fingertips ghosting over his lips, they suddenly traveled downward, over his neck, collarbone, then onto his chest, momentarily resting on the Om symbol, and traveled over to his side where she had kicked him. Gently she stroked his side, skin barely touching skin, and then suddenly, violently, she shoved her hand into his side, once again breaking the bones that had already healed. "So strange, already better…at least I know you won't break easily." She said with a wicked smile on her face.

The smile flickered on her face for a moment before turning into a pout, the Earl was calling her. Well, the sooner she went to him, the sooner she could come back to play with her new doll, and maybe by the time she came back he would be awake!

With that happy thought, a new smile was instilled upon her face and she turned her head to face the unconscious man again. "Even though you're trapped in this room, we don't want to be taking any chances, do we now Mr. Exorcist? Better make sure you don't leave anytime soon."

She started arranging his hands again, this time so they laid flat against the wooden arms of the chair, and as soon as she stepped back two giant spear like candles flew down against them, effectively crucifying him to the chair. Looking back at her work she gave it a second thought, and another candle flew by her head and with a sickening squelch implanted itself directly in the man's middle. He didn't so much as flinch. Finally satisfied she turned towards a door that hadn't been there before, and with one more glance back at him she blew him a kiss, "Don't worry, I won't be gone long, I promise!" And then she was gone in a flurry of short black skirts and lace.

--

The first thing he felt when he started to come to was a dull throbbing pain.

Everywhere.

And quite frankly he didn't know why, to figure that out he would have to look about and see for himself. The problem being his eyes at the moment were being rather uncooperative, and all he could 'see' was an endless world of black. So annoying.

Well, if he couldn't figure out why he was throbbing because he was sightless, he might as well try another strategy.

What in the hell happened before he was knocked out?

He could remember fighting a Noah on his own….someone named Skinn. Skinn Bolic he had introduced himself as. He said he liked sweets a lot.

Disgusting.

That alone was enough excuse for him to have killed the Noah off. And killed him off he did, that he remembered as well. The battle, along with its instigator, was annoying as hell, he would even go as far as to say that Skinn was almost as annoying as that Walker character.

It truly was a bothersome battle-if you could even call it that- simply because it was the first battle in which he had gotten his head completely incinerated. And if he was being truthful with himself, just the thought of that made him a little queasy, and momentarily he wondered how in the hell Mugen was able to fix that little booboo up. It also seemed the most likely reason as to why his head was currently throbbing, maybe it was still trying to fix itself up…

Moving on.

Then what happened?

The world was collapsing that was what happened. Everything around him had started falling apart into strange pieces, including that abnormal door that was his only way out. It had fallen apart before he could leave. He had been trapped with no way out while everything around him was going to hell. So when the final piece of ground came out from underneath him, he started falling down as well.

The fall itself had been strange, he had no idea as to how fast he had been falling because all around him had been an endless abyss of darkness, much like the one around him now, for all he had known he could have been floating. It wasn't until he had finally smacked into some sort of floor that he realized how fast he had been going down.

Pretty fucking fast.

He'd hit the ground hard enough that it severely messed with his head if he still couldn't see, although blurry shapes where starting to make themselves known, he tilted his head in what he thought was a downward direction. His vision was getting clearer and clearer by the second. Enough so he could center his attention on this one particularly colorful blob that seemed to be lying in the middle of what he though was his stomach.

Strange.

The image just kept getting clearer and clearer, eventually he could distinguish and verify that the blob was in fact a candle. A lit candle. Who in the hell would place a lit candle on his stomach like that? Then he realized another little something as his vision finally began to focus: the candle was somehow lying on him completely vertically. A foreboding chill was starting to make its way up his spine.

With his vision finally cleared he could see it for what it was. The candle had been imbedded into his stomach, and as he shifted carefully a sharp pain ran up his back, it was then he noted that the candle had effectively nailed him into some chair he was sitting in. Rationally he though, okay, not a big deal, I've been through worse, I mean come on, I had my goddamned head fucking burnt off.

And with a glower set on his face he went to remove the offending object. Only to realize he couldn't move his hand, he glanced towards it and saw that it too was effectively nailed down the chair's arm, he watched as some of his blood still leaked down off the chair and onto a checkerboard pattern floor. With the floor in mind, he finally decided it would be a great idea to look at his surrounding, grogginess and disorientation were no excuses for lack of diligence.

The room he was in was...odd, to say the least, but perhaps the word he was looking for was childish. Girly, even. Everything was in shades of black, purple, and bright pink, with some other bright happy colors mixed in here and there. He also took note of the colorful candles floating through the air, each of them coming to a dangerously sharp point, the same candles that had crucified him.

And everywhere he turned there were stuffed animals and lacey dresses of all sorts, and within this mix of happy childishness were copious amounts of lethal looking…torture devices perhaps? He wasn't really all that sure. All together the room gave off the impression of looking as if it belonged to a little girl-child, a really creepy, deranged girl-child that was.

From what he could tell there was no immediate door, and that in it of itself was enough to put him off, he leaned back into his chair-not that there was much leaning left to do- and tried to think of a way he could easily remove the candles. Unfortunately, no painless solution could be thought up.

So he mentally prepared himself for the pain he was going to undertake, though no emotion even so much as flickered on his face, and just as he was about to just rip his right hand off of the chair with or without the candle, a happy childish squeal floated through the air.

He looked up immediately to see where the aggravating sound had come from, and right before him a girl stood. No, not a girl, he refused to call her that. Right before him a Noah stood. She was small and altogether had a very pixie-like appearance, had he been any other man he would have called her cute. But as it stood, Kanda was certainly not like any other man, and proceeded to call her Filth in his mind.

"I knew you'd be awake by the time I came back dolly! And just in time too, it looked like you were just about to escape from your chair."

What. The. Hell.

He was no one's fucking doll, and he sure as hell wasn't about to start now. As soon as he ripped these goddamned candles out, she was as good as dead, he snapped his head away from her and let his hair fall down around him, hiding his face, and he once again proceeded in the task of removing the candles, only to be stopped once again, this time by a small pale gray hand.

He watched the fingers warily as they rhythmically petted the skin closest around the candle, smearing his blood on her fingertips.

"It looks as though your skin's already healed around the candle." He didn't flinch as she used her other hand to push most of his hair behind one ear, the entire time he stared at her, eyes cold and unmoving. She stared back as though she was fascinated by him, "This is going to hurt…a lot."

She gave him a sadistic smile and ripped the candle from his hand, removing chunks of flesh along with the candle, blood splattering on some of the nearby stuffed animals. He didn't even cringe in pain as he saw and felt this spectacle, eyes still unyielding as he watched her lick his blood off the candle. "Mm, so sweet, just like my lollipops! You want a lick?"

She placed the candle a little closer to his lips, he slapped it out of her hand with the one that had currently regained freedom. His lips formed a sneer as she stared at him in mild shock, then she smiled back at him, "I knew you would be more fun than that Chinese exorcist, she was so boring, she didn't do _anything_. You'll be fun though, a challenge even, to break a toy that keeps fixing itself. We'll see how long you last." With that said, she seized both candles at the same time and ripped again.

This time Kanda couldn't help but give a silent scream.

The one in the stomach had hurt.

A lot.

Rhode watched in awe as her new toy arched his spine towards her, watched as the muscles rippled under smooth skin, watched as the fresh blood spilled down his abdomen and slid tantalizingly slowly under the seam of his pants. Watched as he threw his head back, silk curtain of hair falling behind him as some strands caught to his face, lips held in a tight grimace. Everything was perfect about that single motion brought about by pain, he really was a beautiful doll.

She couldn't wait to play with him.

And she didn't want to share him with _anyone_.

Not even Tyki…


	2. Chapter 2

**Would it kill people to review to tell me how much they either liked or hated my story (current reviewers -is that even a word?-not included)? Sorry if that sounds rude and all, but right now I'm rather in the dark as to whether or not my writing is decent at all...**

**Kuro666:**_ Thank you for finding my story interesting, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully the formatting will be easier to read this time? If not, I'll still work on it until it is..._

**_Disclaimer: D.Grayman does not belong to me_**

They were worried about him he knew, considering how many questions they were asking him. Or rather, how many times they asked him would be a better way to put it. For the past thirty minutes on the train ride back to headquarters he had kept mum. And for the past thirty minutes on the train ride he had been asked consistently by everyone who knew him –especially Linalee- whether or not he was okay.

At this point he felt that such a question wasn't even worth an answer, and at this point Allen thought that his silence would've been an answer to that question.

No. He, Allen Walker, was not okay.

The reason was fairly straightforward as well. Yuu Kanda was not amongst them any more, and none of them knew if he was dead or alive, although Lavi tried to convince him that the stone-hearted man was still alive.

Allen would admit it, he wasn't too sure, and he worried about it. Although he knew if Kanda ever saw him worrying about him he would've been beaten within an inch of his life and then hung upside down by his feet out of highest window headquarters could provide.

Be that as it may, that was why he was worrying, because no matter how much they disagreed with each other, and no matter how apparently Kanda hated him, he was still a comrade. And if one squinted and looked _really_ deep down into Kanda's heart, anyone could tell that he cared for his friends.

He may beat them close to death, but he would never actually kill anybody that wasn't his foe.

Or so Allen hoped, the last time he-and everybody else- had seen Kanda was not exactly confidence inspiring.

Regardless, he was worried, worried sick. Especially when he realized that Kanda wasn't among them. When Linalee let those fateful words ring, "Where's Kanda?" Allen thought his heart had stopped, he thought he had managed to save almost all of them.

Apparently not.

And instead of trying to find him, they all turned their backs and scurried home with their tails in between their legs! They had to literally drag him back to the train because he was making such a ruckus, that they wouldn't _try_ to find him.

Disgraceful.

They were all disgraceful.

He knew within a day he would forgive them all, but for now he wanted to mope in his worried grief and be left alone, he wanted to shun them all away, no matter how many times they said that they would all find Kanda together once in was reported to headquarters, and got proper backup, and a proper way to actually try to find him.

They were probably right, but for now he just wanted to glower at them all in Kanda's place.

--

That had really fucking hurt.

And as such, he was seriously going to fucking kill her. He was going to wipe that smile off of that horrendous gray little face of hers one way or another. And as such he systematically reached for where Mugen ought to have been, only to grasp the empty air.

He didn't show his shock or concern, after all, in any kind of battle there is no room for such emotions. He thought momentarily as to where it could have been, perhaps the little devil before him took it away from him…

No.

He remembered now.

Mugen had shattered as he attacked the disgusting Skinn with all his power, but he knew it couldn't have been destroyed at all otherwise he would've been long dead. Which he currently wasn't, subconsciously his other hand ghosted over the wound that used to be in his torso. It was there no longer, just a few flakes of dried rusty blood, but the skin beneath was as pale and smooth as it ever was.

"Where's Mugen."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, a demand. He had barked it out so roughly that it sounded as though he loathed the two words with all of his might.

She'd better answer, murderous thoughts churning dangerously, because if she didn't answer, he would kill her with his own bare hands, and shove her own fucking candles down her throat.

The smile on her face didn't go away, but a somewhat confused look did enter her eye, "What's a Mugen?"

And with that Kanda saw red, in a movement that was too fast for the normal eye to register he had her by the neck and up against the wall, and for the first time he saw something akin to shock on her face. As if she couldn't believe that some injured _exorcist _could've possibly gotten her into such a position.

Well you better fucking believe it bitch.

"_You_ better tell me where Mugen _is_ Filth because in a _moment_ I'm going to make you _eat _your own _candles_." And with each emphasis he squeezed her neck and slammed her against the wall hard enough, he was certain, to make her head spin.

Then the never ending smile changed into something more lovely.

The smile became gentler, more sincere, the gray pallor of skin changed to something more creamy and darker than his own skin by a shade or two, the crosses faded away, the hair shortened and turned inky black like his own hair, the body lengthened, the outfit changed. And the most beautiful brown eyes stared back into his own, while small hands grasped his wrist in a pathetic attempt to make his own let go.

Linalee.

It was too bad for the Filth that he was one of the masters of illusions.

His sword was even named Illusion.

The moron.

Instead of loosening his grip around her neck, he tightened it enough that the skin around 'Linalee's' lips started to take on a purple-blue hue. And in the most pitiable and weak voice Kanda had ever heard she ground out, "P-please. Kanda. Let go. Please? Kanda, Please?!" Her voice was getting higher and more hysterical with each 'please' she gasped out.

He hadn't realized how annoying Linalee's voice had been until now.

Well. He wouldn't have to deal with that for long.

Besides. He _hated_ weak things. And the pseudo-Linalee before him was just that: Weak.

With a bone crushing force he squeezed the illusion in front of him, hard enough for her to gag on her own tongue, and then he threw her to the floor, where she began a coughing fit.

Only to be stopped by Kanda's foot on her throat. Once again the 'Linalee' begged for mercy, that he was hurting her. Without even a second glance he completely crushed her neck with his foot, her head now lolled on the floor at a dangerously sharp angle.

Cruel, high pitched laughter burst out from behind him, and he turned to face the sound. Watched as the pixie-Noah laughed so hard she held her sides and rolled around on the ground, tears of amusement running down her face.

In between her laughing fits she managed to burst out, "That was great! The look on her face…priceless!" She screeched again in absolute pleasure, "I knew you would be loads of fun! You didn't even hesitate! Do you like your friends so little?" Her face took on a more serious demeanor as she asked him this.

He just glowered at her.

She cocked her head to the side, a small smile playing at her lips, "You don't like to talk much do you? Oh. And you never answered my question…what's a Mugen?"

--

Rhode couldn't help but shriek with glee at the scene that began to unfold, he was actually crushing the throat of a supposed friend, granted it wasn't really his friend, and more than likely he thought it was still her or something to that respect.

She stifled a snort as she continued to watch. She'd have to be careful with her new toy, he was _fast_, very fast. And even she would admit to herself for a moment a flash of fear passed through her as she found herself dangling at least three feet off the ground.

She didn't wonder anymore as to how he had managed to kill Skinn. If he was this volatile on a normal basis, she could only imagine how dangerous he could be if he had his anti-akuma weapon on him, and a goal to obtain. An exited shudder ran up her spine in morbid anticipation.

He was strong as well, if she hadn't gotten away from him when she did, she was certain her brain would've been all over the wall. Not that it would matter, seeing as she could regenerate in a heartbeat, the process itself would still be painful though.

She was a sadist, not a masochist.

Now she was just waiting to see if she would get an actual reply out of him. But so far all he was doing was glaring at her with those wretchedly cold, beautiful, eyes. She mentally applauded him on that count, she didn't think anyone could match Lulubell's glower and scowl, she was wrong, this man just surpassed Lulubell.

Though visually she stayed focused on him, her mind began to wander a little as she just sat there, and momentarily she wondered if the reason he couldn't show much emotion on his face was because it was stuck that way….

A sort of grunt pulled her out of her reverie and she looked up at him again.

Nothing changed in his expression much, but if one looked carefully there was a tightness of sorts around the corners of his mouth that hadn't been there before, as if anything he had to say to her would be painful.

"Mugen…is. My anti-akuma weapon. A sword. Give it to me."

A sword. She didn't remember finding any sword…or did she?

She did.

Scattered around his body-some pieces further away than others- had been reflective pieces of metal, and a very elegant looking hilt. She had taken a piece of it, the prettiest one in her opinion. A small shard, that was very shiny and couldn't be smudged up. Sharp too, she had accidentally cut herself on it.

She cocked her head to the side again, "You mean…give you all the pieces."

"Yes."

She pretended to be thoughtful for a moment, placing a finger on her chin, eyes lowering as if she truly were deep in thought, before giving a too cheerful response, "No."

She heard him take, what she assumed was a breath to calm himself down. My, my, her toy did have quite the temper. "Why not?" his voice had dropped to a lower octave, becoming low and almost gravelly, she knew she was swimming in dangerous waters.

"Well, I can't _just_ give it to you can I? There would be no fun in that, you have to earn it back. Besides I don't have all the pieces. Just this one." With a flourish she withdrew the shard from within a pocket in between her skirts.

She wholly expecting for him to eye the shard hungrily, but the only reaction she got out of the flourish was just a momentary glimpse at it, before his eyes traveled back to her own. She could tell that he wanted it back though, his fists had tightened to a point where she could see blood slowly drip from his fists and onto the floor.

He'd broken the skin.

She got up from her place on the floor, she had just figured out a game they could play, and maybe if she was feeling really generous the other Noah could play too…

She floated over to him, skipping in the air, shard held out in front of her.

"How about a game?" she asked bending down slightly towards him, waving the shard beneath his nose. Without notice he swiped a fist at her, and he let out a hiss as several of the presumed stuffed toys flew at his arm, teeth like bear traps crushing his arm, which was shaking from the invisible opposing force that seemed to protect Rhode.

She was getting angry.

Affronted she pulled back from him, and slapped him across the face.

Hard.

She smiled sadistically as she heard the jaw crack. "Now, see what you made me do? You don't want to get me angry. Not in my own world."

She swept her arms around the room, and then narrowed her eyes at him, "You better understand this here and now, I control everything here, _everything_, down to the very size of this room."

With that suddenly the room shrunk around them, the walls becoming white, enclosing them in an uncomfortable small space. She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head against his chest, floating because of her short stature. "Now, how about that game dolly? Want to play? I'll teach you the rules."

In reply he stiffly nodded his head.

A happy smile spread across her face, "Wonderfull!" She kissed him full on the lips. And suddenly everything was back to the way it was, and he was once again sitting in the horrendous gothic chair.

Rhode took a stance directly in front of him, "How about this, I give you this shard. And you play whatever game I want you to play with me. For the rest of your time here, yes?"

--

When she whipped out that tiny shard of Mugen from her skirts, Kanda was sure his heart would implode or something along those lines.

Mugen called to him as soon as it had been released from its silky confines. No, it didn't just call, it screeched as though it was in pain. And if Mugen was in pain, on a subconscious level so was he.

In short: he would do anything to get Mugen back.

And at this point it was becoming rather obvious that force would not get Mugen back to him, all it got him was more pain. He was more than certain he had both felt and heard his brain and eyeballs rattle as she smacked him.

So he accepted her terms. Though he didn't really know what those were yet…

Then she leaned in and kissed him.

He didn't know whether or not she noticed, but he felt his arm twitch at the action.

Oh, he couldn't wait for the moment when Mugen would be back in one piece. He would torture her with it, he would make sure each stab and slice he made elicited excruciating pain from her…

Back to the matter at hand.

He started to focus on her words again, she wanted to play a game, and judging by what had happened so far, this game could only be as cruel and sadistic as the pixie-Noah in front of him.

She crossed her arms in a motion of impatience, as he contemplated whether or not Mugen was worth the games she had in mind for him.

Well that was a ridiculously stupid question.

Of course Mugen was worth it.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, and exhaling slowly through his mouth, eyes closing peacefully, hiding the turmoil his eyes could not show, he nodded hesitantly but firmly.

"Yes, I'll play your games with you," he muttered through clenched teeth. He'd have to remember to keep his temper somewhat in check if he wanted to get the rest of Mugen.

As he promised himself that he would be on his –sort of– best behavior he had this suspicious feeling that a new mantra would be necessary to help him make it through his time with the pixie-Noah that twirled around happily before him.

Do it for Mugen.

Do it for Mugen.

Do it for Mugen.

Do it for Mug-

"We're going to play dress up!"

He was certain the slap she dealt him was still addling with his head.

He didn't just hear that.

Apparently his momentary confusion must've somehow shown on his face because she decided to explain the whole idea to him.

"Yes, we're going to play dress up," she nodded her head, agreeing with herself. "You'll get to wear really pretty clothes. And then we can play out stories in which you can be the knight and call me Lady Rhode, and then I can be the knight and you can be the princess, and I'll get us a real dragon too!"

He was not hearing this.

He just wasn't.

He was not going to dress up pretty for her, he wasn't going to pretend to be a lady for her, and he was most certainly not going to address her as Lady Rhode.

It dawned on him.

So that's what her name was…

Rhode.

Focusing back on her, he noticed that she had not yet finished her excited, childish tirade.

"…that breathes real fire and everything, so you can be in _real_ danger because that's always much more fun. Then I can do your hair, because it's so long and pretty and we can have proper balls and tea parties!"

By the end of it she seemed to have calmed down, although the glint in her eye was anything but calm. And it was then Kanda started to wonder whether or not all these basically innocent sounding child-games were as innocent as they seemed.

Of course they couldn't be.

But it didn't keep him from hoping.

She was suddenly in front of him again, small frown on her face and hands on her hips, slowly her golden eyes looked him up and down, as though something about his appearance displeased her.

He wasn't sure if this displeasure was a good or a bad thing, most probably bad, and as such, he eyed her warily for any sudden movements, he was more than certain she would do something at random.

He hated it when he was right.

Of course like anyone else he had a smug pride about it when he was correct, but this feeling was usually in the farthest corner of his mind. Because when he was right, it was never a good thing.

Something horrible tended to happen afterwards.

Then it always must be taken into account as to what one considered horrible.

For example: most individuals would consider an akuma attack a horrible thing.

Kanda found it invigorating, and a wonderful way to practice and train.

Next example: most individuals –mostly of the male gender– would find it a great blessing to have a cute girl take off their clothes for them.

Kanda found it unnerving and unnecessary, especially when he could efficiently take off his own clothes.

So he reacted quickly and vehemently.

She pulled away from him, raised her hand, and inspected all of her broken fingers. She looked back up at him and matched him glare for glare, then hissed contemptuously, "Fine! You can wash yourself up!"

A malicious grin spread across her face, "Just don't forget to wash under your fingernails."

And with inhuman speed and strength she kicked him square in the chest, knocking the breath out of him and knocking him backwards…

Water encompassed him from all sides and he couldn't move, not because he couldn't swim, but because his arms and legs had been chained together, he was drowning and drowning fast.

Morbidly he wondered if he were to die whether or not Mugen would fix him up, only for him to drown again and repeat the process for eternity, or however long she kept him in his watery almost grave.

Darkness stole away his vision again.

--

Rhode stared smugly at the giant pool of water that appeared in the middle of her room.

It served him right to be drowning like he was, after all, she couldn't have unruly dolls. He could be as violent as he wanted to be, she wouldn't mind bursts of anger here and there, even if it was directed at her. After all that's what made him interesting.

However, she would not have him be consistently violent with her at every other thing she did to him, because then they would never actually get to play.

It wasted too much time.

The pool before her evolved into a deep basin, shallow enough to keep his head out of the water though, the chains were gone, and some bath supplies lined the rim of the bath, clean towels lying neatly folded on the floor.

She expected him to be clean, dry, and ready for dress up by the time she came back.

--

It would be Lulubell's job to infiltrate the exorcist headquarters.

But it was Tyki's job to find the goddamned thing first.

He grumbled to himself as he trudged through the French countryside, headed towards the wilds that surrounded Paris, seeing as that's where his snooping around eventually lead him.

He couldn't understand for the life of him as to why the Earl actually _wanted_ him to find the place as an ordinary human would. He knew, for the most part it was so he wouldn't draw any attention to himself, but he could've disguised himself as soon as he was within at least a twenty mile or so radius of the place.

Tyki had a sneaking feeling that the reason for the Earl's strange request was because he had specifically said he was bored.

Never again would he say that to the Earl's face.

As he wiped the sweet off his brow because of the full sun overhead, a girlish voice asked him a question.

"What should I name him Tyki?"

He kept walking and didn't answer, "Tyyyki! Are you even listening to me? Stop walking away and listen to me!"

There was that familiar whine again, but he refused to look at her and refused to stop walking from her…

Until she jumped onto his back and threw him face-first into the hay covered mud before him. "You never answered my question Tyki…are you in a bad mood or something?"

There was a feeble mumble from underneath her.

"Oh. Right." Rhode got off and helped pull him to his feet, now waiting patiently for an answer as he brushed away straws from his hair.

He looked down at her and then gave a hearty sigh, "The Earl wants me to find the exorcist headquarters."

Tyki never got a response, Rhode just momentarily stared blankly at him, as if trying to figure out why that would be a problem, the right side of his mouth twitched upward as he asked, "So, what was your question again?"

An excited look crept onto her face, "What should I name him Tyki?"

"Why should you have to name him, he already has a name…"

"You know it?!"

"Yes."

She looked up at him expectantly as they both stared at each other, after a minute or two passed by, the usual I-didn't-get-what-I-wanted pout came onto her face.

"Well! Are you going to tell me or what?!"

A smirk grew on his face, sometimes annoying Rhode was a very pleasurable pursuit when he knew she wouldn't actually do anything to him.

"His name is Kanda from what I've gathered." He said with a shrug as though it was not a big deal.

Rhode rolled the name around in her mouth, repeating his name over again and again under her breath. Then she looked up at Tyki again, obviously pleased she got was she was looking for.

"Thank you Tyki!"

She walked toward him arms outstretched, he was expecting a hug.

She pushed him instead.

His stunned face stared back at her as she waved goodbye to him and shouted, "That was for the name Tyki!"

For a moment there was nothing but darkness, and then he landed on his back gracelessly on hard, rocky, earth. Picking himself up and turning around, he looked upwards stunned. There, sitting atop of a treacherous looking peak, almost covered by clouds, sat the Black Order headquarters.

Rhode knew where it was.

Which meant the Earl knew where it was.

Which meant that his trip had all been for nothing.

Sometimes, Tyki really hated the Earl.


End file.
